


safe-house

by digitally_analog



Series: safe-house [dbh!au] [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Androids, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Mentions of Blood/Injury, Non-Graphic Violence, detroit: become human au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-27
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-05-25 06:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14971184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitally_analog/pseuds/digitally_analog
Summary: Thomas had gotten one android on purpose, to help care for his home and make it slightly less lonely. The second he found awaiting deactivation. The third was broken and left to wander the city sidewalks, and the fourth came to his door, eyes wide and pleading for help.In a week, they watch the world change.Set during the events of Detroit: Become Human. Tags may be added as updates are released.





	1. KL900

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a post by @neko-ereri on tumblr. 
> 
> this is my first fanfic ever published on a major fanwork site! not beta'd and i might've missed typos, so let me know if there's anything glaring and i'll fix it! (also i'm sorry if the characters are a little ooc -- i'm doing my best)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Why are they deactivating you?”_
> 
> _The android frowned and averted its gaze. It said nothing, and its LED went a bright red._
> 
> _Patton spoke up then, voice calm and gentle. “Do you want to be deactivated?”_
> 
> _The KL900 shook its head furiously. “I can’t **want** … but…"_

**_1:47 pm; August 12, 2038_ **

Thomas hummed as he closed his laptop, stretching his arms above his head. He winced at the feeling of his spine popping itself back into place, eyes closing as his muscles unraveled and gained some relief. Lowering his hands, he glanced at the clock on the wall, the time and date displayed in neat black text. A stream of sunlight beamed in through the window, casting a warm glow over the living room.

Pushing his laptop to empty couch cushion beside him, he rose to his feet and walked toward the kitchen. Sitting at the table, looking down at a data-pad, was a brown-haired android, wearing a light blue standard issue shirt. A pair of lens-less black framed glasses sat on his nose, sliding down slightly as he read. As Thomas stepped closer, the android looked up with an open expression, and a smile pulled onto the human’s face.

The house Thomas had gotten just outside the city had felt empty ever since he’d moved in, even after he had lived in it for several months. The walls had been decorated, and the furniture was decent, though it was often only him in the home. When his friends visited, they’d always ask him when he was going to get an android; after all, practically everyone had one, and it would make cleanup easier and help Thomas keep track of appointments and events.

Eventually, after months of saving and pestering from friends, he caved. When he walked into the store, he’d immediately gravitated to the AP700 model that stood against the far wall, standing under the ‘SALE: Pre-Owned’ sign. The android’s eyes were closed, and he looked almost serene, standing with his hands clasped behind his back. A blond-haired sales-assistant android had approached almost immediately, greeting him with a “Good afternoon! How can I help you?”

Thomas listened as the android talked, focusing more on the AP700 standing on the pedestal than what was being said. As the assistant spoke, the android’s light brown eyes fluttered open and looked around the sales room before settling on Thomas. During a brief pause, Thomas interrupted and asked about the AP700’s condition. Upon being told that any software and mobility issues had been fixed when it had arrived, Thomas had nodded and asked to purchase it. After a quick record check and paying the discounted price in full, the human owner of the discount store had come over and said, “AP700, register your name.”

+

“Hey, Patton.”

“Afternoon, Thomas!” the housekeeper replied, LED flashing its pale blue. He pushed the data-pad forward, the slim piece of tech recording his place with a soft beep. “How are you doing?”

Thomas hummed as walked to the sink and filled a glass with water. “I’m doing alright, and the script is going pretty well.” He took a quick sip of water and snapped his fingers as he remembered something, “I do need to go and get some stuff from the city, though.”

He listened as Patton stood up from the chair, pushing it back in place. He hid his smile behind the glass as Patton said, “Would you like me to go to the store for you?”

Thomas shook his head and turned to face Patton. “No, it’d be good for me to get out of the house, I think. You can come with me though.”

The android nodded enthusiastically, LED shining a bright blue. Thomas felt his heart grow warm at the sight. The human took another drink from the glass and then set it down. “Alright. Go ahead and change, I’ll go put on some shoes and we can leave.”

He watched as Patton turned to go down the hall and into his ‘room’ before closing the door partway behind him. He moved over towards the door, taking his shoes from the mat and sliding them onto his feet, mind wandering.

Whenever Thomas suggested that he and Patton spend time together, the android always grew exponentially happy. Even though Thomas knew that Patton was an android, and didn’t necessarily _feel_ , he couldn’t bring himself to think of Patton simply putting on a smile to make Thomas feel better. No, Patton’s reactions... felt genuine. Although Cyberlife _did_ pride themselves on creating androids that integrated nearly perfectly with humans, this felt different. It felt real.

Thomas shook himself from his thoughts as he finished tying his shoes and pocketed his wallet, phone, and keys. It wasn’t long before Patton came to join him by the door, and they left. The bus stop was just down the street, and they stood by the sign in silence for a couple minutes as they waited. 

When it arrived, Thomas sat down in the middle of the bus, glancing back to see Patton enter the android compartment. It was weird, almost unnatural, to see Patton in the stark white and black uniform. The bright blue armband looked foreign in its place on his upper arm, as well as the uniform blue triangle that served as an identifier. He felt a slow twisting feeling in his stomach at the sight of Patton –  _smiling_ Patton – standing among the other androids, faces blank and stoic as the bus left the neighborhood and into the bustling city.

++ 

It took almost an hour to finish shopping. Along with the convenience store, he’d ended up going into a clothing store, getting a few new colorful shirts for Patton. Although the android didn’t need changes of clothes, Thomas had to admit that seeing Patton in the same set of clothes every day was a little odd.

After they were finished, Patton carried the two bags as they walked down the street. They sidestepped two protesting groups as they shouted for androids to be destroyed, and ignored as a preacher called after them, shouting that androids would bring about the demise of the country.

Moving away from the very center of the city, the streets calmed, and Thomas felt his shoulders relax from their tense position. Patton piped up from beside Thomas, “If we want to make it to the stop before our bus leaves, we should take a shortcut near the hospital.”

“Sounds good,” Thomas responded, and the two made their way down a side road, walking towards the huge white and gray building. As they walked, they passed several groups of people, all heading either towards or away from the large glass doors. There was one group standing by the stairs leading to the entrance, each of them with an arm around another’s shoulder. An android was speaking to them.

They turned down an alley, passing through to reach the access road and street behind the hospital. As they passed behind the hospital, Thomas saw something in the fenced-in area behind the large building.

He came to a stop and did a double-take. Cautiously, he stepped towards the fence, fingers curling around the warm metal. An android was among what looked to be discarded materials, leaning against the wall near a loading bay. It was wearing a standard uniform, with words displayed under the blue triangle on the jacket, too small to read at a distance. There were several open crates next to it, bearing the Cyberlife logo.

Patton’s footsteps, which had slowed, started again, backtracking to where Thomas had stopped. “Thomas? What’s wrong?”

Thomas swallowed, glancing towards the chain-link fence gate several feet away. Gathering determination, he gestured for Patton to follow, and got as close to the android as he could. Thomas took in a deep breath and asked Patton, “Can’t you, like, connect to him or something?”

“I can try.” Patton answered, and his LED went yellow as he reached to open a connection.

The android next to the crates stiffened, head turning at the sudden signal. Pushing off the wall, the android responded to Patton’s outreach, the connection tentative.

Styled brown hair fell into the android’s face as it looked towards Patton and Thomas, body stiff and tense. It looked towards the interior of the loading bay, peering into the darkness before pushing away from the wall and crates completely. It bent down and out of sight for a brief moment, before rising with a small black satchel slung over its shoulder.

It crept towards the fence, continuing to glance towards the open loading bay door every few steps. Its LED was flickering between yellow and red, and dark brown eyes looked thoroughly worried as it stepped up to the chain link fence. The uniform’s jacket read ‘KL900’ in black print. The white jacket was slightly dirtied from being outdoors, small patches of brown dirtying the ends of the sleeves.

Thomas spoke softly, so as to not spook the android. “What are you doing out here?”

The KL900 took a moment to consider its response, eyes shifting from side to side. “I am supposed to be sent to be deactivated and analyzed to search for the source of an error. Those sent to collect me will not be here for another hour and forty minutes.”

“Why are they deactivating you?”

The android frowned and averted its gaze. It said nothing, and its LED went a bright red.

Patton spoke up then, voice calm and gentle. “Do you want to be deactivated?”

The KL900 shook its head furiously. “I can’t _want_ … but…” it trailed off. Though it didn’t answer, the expression on the android’s face was clearly distressed, and was certainly not the expression of a being unmoved by their impending death. Thomas and Patton looked at each other. Thomas wondered, not for the first time, what was going through Patton’s head. The household android’s expression held something too close to pain and sadness for Thomas’s liking, and he sighed. He looked back over to the KL900, who was looking down at his feet, fingers toying with his sleeves.

“You can come with us, to my house.”

The KL900’s gaze was uneasy, though Patton’s face noticeably brightened. He added, “It’s only Thomas and I there. You’ll be safe!”

“Are you sure?” it asked.

“I’m sure.” Thomas answered, with a certain nod of his head. With that, he looked to the latch on the gate, fiddling with it for a moment before flipping it open. Gently, he pushed it open just enough for the KL900 to squeeze through before pulling it shut and latching it once more. The KL900 let out a deep breath, its LED turning yellow.

“Do you have a name?”

The android shut its dark brown eyes before answering. “They called me Logan. I… have no objections to the name.”

“I like that name too,” Thomas said, a grin on his face at the roundabout phrasing. He turned to Patton, “Can you call for a car? We shouldn’t take the bus if we’re going to take him with us.”

Patton nodded, already processing the transaction. “It will be here in 5 minutes.”

The three of them stood in near silence, before Logan spoke up and stated, “You referred to me as ‘him’.”

Thomas froze. “Yeah. Do you… not want me to?”

Logan blinked. His LED went yellow, and then blue. “No… I have no objections to that.”

++ 

Thomas breathed a sigh of relief once he stepped back into his own home. He went to the kitchen to fill a glass with water once more, taking a long drink of it as Patton and Logan came inside. Patton set the bags from shopping on the counter, while Logan stood in front of the closed door, looking around the first floor of the house.

“KL900’s are medical models?” Thomas asked into the open air, meaning for it to be rhetorical.

“Yes, we are particularly helpful in working with patients with psychosis and other mental illnesses. Others of us work as nurses, and there are others that serve as emergency surgeons,” Logan answered, causing Thomas to jolt slightly. His voice was steadier now, and he looked slightly less afraid. “I am meant to work with those who suffer from mental illnesses and must remain in the hospital’s care.”

The human considered Logan’s words for a moment. With a gentle voice, Thomas proposed, “We don’t have to talk about this right now… but I’m going to assume that something went wrong, caring for one of them. Is that why you were out there?”

Logan looked embarrassed, but he nodded. “Yes. For some reason, I am less than proficient in communicating with patients in a gentle manner. I simply say what must be said, and sometimes, that leads to distress in those I care for. However, on my last assignment to a human patient… my lack of understanding caused a greater disturbance than any other before.”

 “They think it’s an issue in your programming?”

“They do. All my self-diagnostics return with 0 errors, though. I don’t understand why… but they ordered me to wait outside.”

Thomas felt his heart ache at Logan’s last sentence. He stepped out of the kitchen and towards where Logan stood in the doorway. He mused, “So, you did. What’s in your bag?”

If Logan looked embarrassed before, he looked more ashamed now. His LED flickered between yellow and red. He averted his eyes. “Thirium – you would call it _blue blood_. Spare melding plastic. Smaller Biocomponents.”

Patton, who had busied himself adjusting a few cushions, asked, “Why would you need those?”

“To repair an injured android.” 

The AP700 came to join Thomas in standing a few feet away from Logan. “Were you planning on running away, then?”

“I had entertained the thought. While I was… distressed, I gathered some basic care supplies. If I had come across an android or was injured myself, I wanted to be able to carry out my main function.”

“To help people…” Thomas hummed. He let out a long sigh and gestured around him to the first-floor house. “Well, you’re going to be safe here. I can show you the extra room, and you can leave your things there? We need to get you out of that uniform before someone comes looking for you.”

++

**_8:52pm; August 15 th, 2038_ **

Thomas found himself staring at the television, watching as an android held a gun to a child’s head, standing at the edge of a rooftop. He held his breath, laptop and work forgotten in his lap. Logan was sitting across from him, on the other side of the couch, watching with rapt attention as well. The medical android had taken a liking to button-down shirts over the previous three days (Thomas had also ordered a second pair of glasses after Logan had said Patton’s glasses were particularly aesthetically pleasing). Patton had left the room a few minutes into the news coverage and had busied himself in the kitchen.

The news anchor spoke hurriedly, the words ‘Deviant Android’ cycling over and over at the bottom of the screen. Thomas bit his lip and let out a long sigh. He’d gotten texts from everyone he knew, telling him to turn on the news. If he was honest, this sort of news was the last thing he was expecting to see. Seeing the soaring view of the incident from the cameras on helicopters made him feel sick, but he couldn’t seem to look away.

They watched as another figure walked out onto the balcony. The news anchor reported, “It appears that an android has been sent to talk with the deviant. Sources say that the model is a variation of the RK series, called the RK800, and was created by Cyberlife to assist police in active investigations.”

The soaring camera zoomed in as the new figure —another android – knelt down next to the body of a policeman, saying something to the deviant before yanking off his tie and tying it around the cop’s wound. The android stood again and stepped forward, approaching the deviant. Thomas groaned at the sight, leaning back into the cushions of the sofa.

After what felt like an eternity, the deviant finally let go of the child, and the clear sound of a gunshot resounded through the television’s speakers before the news station cut away from the live footage and returned to the newsroom. Thomas jolted at the sound, and he heard something clatter in the kitchen. He turned to look, and saw Patton picking up a dropped plastic container. The android put it in the cabinet before returning to the living area. “The child’s safe?” 

Before Thomas could answer, Logan did. “She is. Though from the sound of it, I believe the deviant android is...” Logan hesitated, searching for words but clearly coming up short, “…not in service, anymore. They reported it was a PL600 model, which has been significantly outdated by many new androids in the previous few years.”

An expression clouded over Patton’s face that was too similar to distress and sadness, and Thomas saw his LED flicker red. The android stared at the television, past Thomas and Logan, before murmuring. “He wanted to stay with his family.”

When Thomas made a noise of confusion, Patton simply pointed at the television, where the news ticker at the bottom of the screen read, _PROBABLE MOTIVE: DEVIANT DID NOT WANT TO BE REPLACED BY NEW MODEL_.

“Jeez, that’s… wow,” Thomas exhaled heavily. He glanced at his laptop and closed it with a decisive ‘clack’, before shuffling a few papers to rest on top of it. He leaned back into the cushions once more and looked up at Patton again. The household android hadn’t moved, and his LED was very slowly flickering back to a pale blue.

“You alright, Patton?” Thomas asked.

The android nodded slowly, before turning around and retreating to his room in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! constructive criticism is always welcome! (come scream at me on tumblr about this au! i'd love to talk about it!)
> 
> im on tumblr: @digitally-analog


	2. VS400

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Thomas glanced at the clock and frowned... “Patton should be back by now—picking something up doesn’t take him **that** long.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's back?
> 
> (apologies for any ooc-ness. i'm doing my best)

**_4:24pm; November 4 th, 2038_** 

Logan became a steady presence over the next few months. He’d asked if he could read through some of the paper books Thomas had kept about a week into staying at the house. When told that he was more than welcome to, Logan took to reading for hours on end. He’d made a lot of progress in reading every book Thomas owned, fiction and non-fiction alike. Thomas got used to seeing Logan standing in front of the bookshelf, reorganizing it by some new metric every few weeks.

When Thomas’ friends came to visit, he introduced Logan to them, and told them how he was taking care of the android. Much to his relief, his friends found Logan very interesting and supported Thomas’ decision, and joked that ‘now Patton has a friend when you have to go out!’.

Patton had taken to Logan’s presence well. When making dinner, he’d invite Logan to come and try cooking (which Logan doesn’t see the point of, since Patton has thousands of recipes stored and is more than capable of cooking himself, but he relents anyway). One evening, when there was a heavy storm outside, Patton had jolted slightly at a particularly heavy roll of thunder, accidentally cutting his palm with the sharp knife in his hand. Logan had made the AP700 sit in a kitchen chair and had wiped the leaking thirium from the wound before he took a small strip of melding plastic and pressed it to Patton’s palm, sealing the cut closed.

Thomas thought it was kind of cute, how Logan sprung into movement whenever there was something he could do. He also marveled at how Patton and Logan interacted throughout any given day. When the AP700 had exhausted the tasks in the house, he would sometimes sit across from Logan, and would listen to Logan talk about different topics. Sometimes Patton would start a conversation about the book Logan had been reading, and other times Patton and Logan would consider topics that had run on the evening news the previous night.

It struck Thomas as sort of odd, that the two androids were communicating through speech rather than silently, through their network. He had no problem with it, of course—most of the time he welcomed the quiet chatter. The times he needed silence, he’d move into a different room and wear headphones. Their discussions made them seem _human_ , if he looked past the LEDs in their heads. Of course, he reminded himself that Cyberlife designed them that way, but the thought that it was something _more_ than that stuck in his head.

Thomas had just finished putting away his work for the day when Patton announced “An order is ready for pickup, Thomas! Should I go get it?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” came the response, and Patton was on his feet in seconds. When the household android went to change into his uniform, Thomas turned to Logan. “I’ve been putting off reorganizing some of my drawers for a long time. Do you want to help?”

Logan blinked before closing his book and turning to Thomas to reply. He started to say something else before he corrected himself. “I -- Of course.”

The two went upstairs, and Thomas pushed open the door to his room. It had been recently deep-cleaned – an effort that took both him and Patton a few hours about two weeks ago – so it looked incredibly neat. Thomas heaved a sigh as he pulled one of his desk drawers open, and was met with a mess of papers, old looking journals, and pamphlets. He hefted the drawer from its place and put it onto his bed to scoop out the contents. Once he was done, he placed the now-empty drawer back into the slot of his desk and turned to the pile with his hands on his hips.

“There’s… a lot here. Any good ideas for organizing it all?”

Logan picked up a few items from the pile and stared at them silently, LED spinning yellow as he thought. “I suppose sorting them into things to keep or get rid of would be of first priority, and then placing them into groups based on similarity?”

Thomas smiled. “Sounds good.” He pulled a recently emptied trashcan out from under his desk, before settling in to work through the pile. Most of the papers were physical copies of different projects that had since been transferred to data-pads, or adverts that he’d thrown in the drawer with the intent to return to them later.

Logan took any items left over and began to sort them. As they worked, Thomas humming a bit under his breath, Logan caught him off guard and asked, “I do not mean to overstep, but why haven’t you done this with Patton?”

Thomas laughed softly and tossed a fair number of adverts into the trashcan next to him. “Patton’s great at cleaning and keeping things neat, but he always seems to have a reason for me to keep something. I thought having a pair of fresh eyes helping me would be more effective.”

The KL900 nodded and looked back down at what was in his hands. Out of curiosity, Thomas asked, “Did you work on organizing things at the hospital?”

“I did for a little while,” Logan answered, and Thomas let the android continue to talk about his work. Unsurprisingly, Logan avoided talk about actual human patients and stuck to the more technical side of things, but Thomas found himself following along as they continued the numbing process of sorting.

Once they were finally finished with the drawer, it had been about an hour and a half. Thomas glanced at the clock and frowned, putting the last few items back in the drawer and placing his trashcan back in its appropriate place. “Patton should be back by now—picking something up doesn’t take him _that_ long.”

As if on cue, the front door opened downstairs. Thomas felt his heart drop, though, when he heard a dull thud and Patton called, “Thomas?!”

The human hurried down the stairs, Logan close behind. However, when he reached the bottom of the stairs he froze. In the doorway stood Patton, with a battered android leaning against his shoulder. Patton had dropped the item he’d gone to pick up on the ground and was holding the other android upright. This android’s chestnut hair was wild, though it was clear that it had once been styled. His LED was bright red.

At a loss for words, he simply said, “Where did you find him, Pat?”

The AP700 tried to urge the other forward, and the other android stumbled a bit. Patton pulled the door the rest of the way shut, and answered, voice determined and LED spinning yellow. “I saw him while I was walking back from the shop. He said he didn’t have anywhere he could go – I couldn’t just _leave_ him there!”

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he wondered how he managed to get an android that seemed to be as empathetic as himself, for better or for worse. But at the forefront of his mind, the question of _how am I going to house three androids_ was circling around and around. He bit his lip and stepped forward. The android flinched.

“I should be able to fix some of the damage,” Logan stated from behind Thomas, before rounding the corner and going to get his satchel. Thomas let him go, not taking his eyes off the injured android. Patton took another step forward, and the android did his best to match it. Thomas caught a glimpse of the model number on his uniform; VS400.

Thomas went into a closet to grab a towel. As Logan came back down the small hallway, Thomas asked, “Does blue blood wash out of clothes?”

“If cleaned early enough, it will. It evaporates and becomes invisible after a few hours, anyway.” came Logan’s response.

Thomas grabbed a few towels and went into the living area. He laid two towels across a part of the couch and gestured for Patton to bring the injured android inside. It felt like an age before Patton managed to ease the android onto the towels. Thomas had stepped away, and let Logan begin analyzing the damage.

Logan began to go through his satchel, pulling out a canister of thirium and a decent amount of the melding plastic. He said, “I can fix the cosmetic damage and any internal damage will be fixed by his body over the next few days, but biocomponent ‘bc1ag’ will need to be ordered and replaced.”

Thomas looked to Patton, “Go ahead and order one. Logan, do you need anything else?”

“A wet cloth to clean the thirium, I suppose. And he will need new clothes.”

Thomas went to soak a washrag while Patton disappeared to pull another set of clothes from his wardrobe. Once Thomas returned, he handed the cloth to Logan and the KL900 began to wipe away the leaking thirium from the polymer-synthetic skin. Patton was close behind and laid the clothes over the arm of the couch.

“So,” Thomas started, and the android’s brown eyes snapped to look at him. “What’s your name?”

The android frowned. “Why do you need to know?”

“Because if you’re staying here, I want to be able to call you something other than your model number,” he answered, trying to present himself as openly as he could. He gestured to Logan, “I took him in because I saw him waiting to get deactivated. Pat’s the only android that’s actually registered to me. 

Patton smiled, addressing the VS400. “I promise, Thomas just wants to help you.”

The android’s frown remained on his face before he finally let out a long sigh. He relaxed only a tiny amount as Logan funneled some thirium into an open wound and then slowly coved it with mending plastic.

“My name is Roman.”

When it was clear that Roman wasn’t going to say anything else, Patton tried to nudge him in the right direction. “Can you tell us what happened?"

Again, the android kept things short as he answered, “Got beaten up. Nowhere to go.”

Logan paused in his work and made eye contact with Roman. “Were they other androids or humans?”

The murmured ‘ _humans_ ’ tipped Thomas off, and he understood then why Roman was so hesitant. With that, he got up and left to move a few feet away, in an attempt to bring the VS400 a little bit of comfort while still remaining in ear-shot. It took a few moments, but with Thomas moved farther away, Roman seemed a little more comfortable, and he began to speak.

“I used to work at a bar. I was the only android working there, and there were some humans too. A few days ago, someone got a little too drunk. Something about androids must have played on the news because next thing I knew, he was in my face, screaming about how I… how androids like me had taken so many peoples’ jobs and how they could barely live anymore. He got pried off of me, but later he started a fight with someone else.”

He let out a humorless laugh. “They sent me to go break it up – after all, you can’t hurt something that can’t feel pain.”

Thomas frowned, and Patton took a seat on couch, leaving a cushion of space between him and Roman. Roman hissed as Logan worked on a new wound, and Thomas’s could have sworn he heard the KL900 murmur an apology. The human gazed at the beaten android and a surge of anger flooded through him at the thought of what the android had gone through. No-one deserved that.

“When I tried to separate them, they turned their anger on me, and soon it was two of them beating me down. The rest of the bar was cheering them on, and the other bartenders didn’t even try to help me. People _cheered_ when they saw me bleeding. I wasn’t allowed to defend myself – they would have reported me and shut me down.”

Roman closed his eyes and shook his head. “I was so scared that they’d kill me. When they got bored, they told me to wait until close in the back, but I left before then. They put up a ‘no androids’ sign on the door the next morning, so I didn’t have anywhere to go.” He gestured with his right hand to Patton, “Then you found me.”

Thomas exhaled heavily. As Logan patched a spot at Roman’s neck, Roman took his more-healed left hand and rested it on the back of the KL900’s free hand. The skin on both appendages peeled back, revealing the plastic underneath the polymer. With the way Logan’s LED was flashing, Thomas could only assume that Roman was transferring data to Logan. Eventually, Logan pulled his hand away and fisted it in his lap. He sat eerily still for a few moments before he returned to his task, filling the remaining wounds and melding the plastic pieces to Roman’s body.

“Hey, Roman?” Thomas started, wincing when the android flinched. “Just… just know that here, you can do whatever you need to in order to protect yourself, okay? What they did to you wasn’t _fair_ , and anyone with a conscience should be able to realize that.”

The android allowed himself a small grin and said, “Thank you.”

“There’s a space here for you as long as you need it,” Thomas added. He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be housing more than one android, but I’ll figure something out. I might have two of you share a room if that’s alright. I don’t want to leave one of you out in the open at night.”

Logan nodded, “That is understandable. If he must stay in the room I have been occupying, I have no objections.”

++

After Thomas had eaten dinner and retreated to his room for an early night, the three androids found themselves gathered together in the guest room. Logan sat in a chair pulled in from the neighboring ‘office’, while Patton and Roman both shared space sitting on the bed. Logan opted for using their internal communication network rather than physical speech, since Thomas was asleep, and he didn’t want to risk waking him. ⋘ _What was that thing you sent to me? What is rA9?_ ⋙

Roman shrugged. ⋘ _A lot of androids like me seem to worship it. Someone shared that compile with me while I was wandering. They talk about it like the humans talk about their gods. I’m not quite sure what it really means, but a lot of them believe that rA9 was the first to find free will, and that they’ll bring the rest of the androids freedom.”_

Patton pulled his legs up to sit cross-legged. ⋘ _What do you mean by ‘androids like you’?”_ ⋙

Roman’s LED went red, and he was silent for a long moment. He met Patton’s eyes, unsure. ⋘ _I… I’m a deviant._ ⋙

The household android nodded, head moving in a large gesture, ⋘ _Oh, I understand now. Okay!_ ⋙

⋘ _That is a good clarification. I was unsure if you meant other VS400 models. So, the compile is…?_ ⋙

⋘ _What someone else gave me. They told me about this place where we can be free. I… I was going to try and find my way there if I managed to get patched up._ ⋙

Logan nodded his head, movement short. ⋘ _Are you planning to leave here? To go to this… ‘Jericho’?_ ⋙

The VS400 asked, voice tentative through the connection, ⋘ _I mean, are we really safe here?_ ⋙

Logan looked to Patton for an answer, and the household android nodded. ⋘ _Thomas means well, Roman. If you want to leave, he won’t keep you here, but… honestly, I think staying here would be best._ ⋙

Roman heaved a synthetic sigh and looked around the dark room. He was silent for several moments as his processors worked and his LED glowed its soft yellow. ⋘ _I’ll stay for now._ ⋙

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed this! constructive criticism is always welcome!
> 
> im on tumblr: @digitally-analog


	3. HK400

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Have you ever thought about it?”_
> 
> _“About what?”_
> 
> _“Leaving. Being free.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof this chapter was a beast to write. everytime i thought the chapter was over, the characters just kept on talking and i ended up with this, even after re-reading it several times.
> 
> (apologies for any ooc-ness, i'm doing my best)

**_10:35am; November 6th, 2038_ **

Much like how Logan had settled into the house quickly, Roman did as well. His desire to leave and find the place he called ‘Jericho’ seemed to wane as the next two days drew on, though at night, he would share what he’d heard about the place with Patton and Logan. Once Patton had retrieved the biocomponent from the pickup-site, Logan had taken great care in replacing the component in the juncture of Roman’s neck and shoulder.

Thomas had offered Roman an empty notebook after watching the android fiddle around with a pen Thomas had dropped and forgotten about. The android had taken the notebook with a smile and began to write and draw constantly. Sometimes he would stare into space, hand moving as though on auto-pilot, while other times he would stare intently at whatever he was drawing.

The few times Thomas had caught a glance at the pages, and whenever Roman turned it to show a curious Patton, he saw that Roman had drawn various things around the house with stunning accuracy. There had been multiple times where he had drawn Logan, face drawn into concentration as he read, or Patton working around the house. A few portraits and studies of Thomas made it in there as well.

The other pages, where Roman had written, were covered in characters that Thomas couldn’t recognize. It appeared to be writing of some kind, though Thomas didn’t want to pry to find out what it said. Roman tended to keep these pages to himself, though sometimes he would lay the book down in the middle of writing and forget to close it.

While he commonly worked from home, Thomas found himself being pulled outside and into the cold more often to meet with others. One of these times had happened the second day Roman had been staying in the house. That morning, around ten, he had left after eating the breakfast Patton had made, but not before calling to the androids to take care of themselves, and that he would be back soon.

Once the door shut behind him, Roman put down the notebook he had been drawing in, a half-finished study of an android’s internal structures scratched onto the once blank white paper. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Patton, who was now clearing up the dishes and utensils he’d used that morning. “Have  _you_  ever thought about it?”

“About what?”

“Leaving. Being free.”

Patton’s LED cycled to yellow. He thought hard for a long few moments, pausing in his cleaning in doing so. “Not really. Are you thinking about it?”

Roman shook his head. “No, at least not for now. Thomas really does seem nice.”

Logan, who had settled himself at the kitchen table and was scrolling through articles on a data pad, nodded his head in agreement. “He has certainly shown great care towards us all. He seems to treat us as though we were people.”

Roman frowned, “We  _are_  people, Logan.”

The KL900 shook his head. “’People’ is a noun that is used to describe a group of human beings, Roman. Androids can’t be human – we only bear their likeness.”

Patton shook his head, sensing that the argument was going to grow. He sifted through memory, trying to find something to diffuse the situation with. He began to put the rinsed dishes into the dishwasher to be cleaned. The two androids had kept the bickering to a minimum whenever Thomas was around, but Patton knew all too well that the two of them argued through their network at night.

“How?” Roman started, face incredulous, though he couldn’t seem to find the correct words. He picked up the pen and began to turn it between his fingers absently. “Look at me. Look at  _us_.” He gestured with his arms wide, pen closed in his fist. “We are  _intelligent_ , we aren’t like some family pet that they teach tricks. Sure, we’re made in a factory, but they gave us the ability to experience  _human_ life! They built us like this and then shackled us to be used. Don’t you feel like you can be more than what you were made to be?”

“I was going to be deactivated because I  _couldn’t_  do what I was created to,” Logan shot back, eyes narrow behind the black frames of his glasses. Roman fell silent. “Being told to wait outside, I didn’t  _feel_  anything, except that I did not see the reason to be deactivated. What point is there in deactivating an android whose diagnostics return with no errors?”

“They didn’t  _want_  you anymore,” Roman pressed. “That’s why. Humans see us as disposable. The moment we don’t live up to their expectations, they throw away and replace us. But we all have something unique, and we can’t let that get buried underneath orders from humans — we need the freedom to be ourselves.”

Logan was about to respond, but Patton spoke up, leaving the kitchen to approach the side closet where he had stored cleaning supplies. “And we can be. Roman, where did you learn to draw?”

Roman blinked owlishly, processors fumbling slightly at the sharp change in subject. “I’d recreate pictures on napkins while I was in the back before the bar opened for the evening. Passed the time.”

Logan stood and took his leave, the data-pad open to an article about an AX400 which had attacked its owner and fled, taking a little girl with it.

**++**

**_9:02pm; November 6 th, 2038_ **

Thomas sat in the living room with the androids, a movie playing on the television as he scrolled through his phone, answering texts that he had chosen to put off throughout the day. The four of them had settled into a comfortable silence, letting the soft sounds of the television fill the room. Roman was drawing once more, while Patton had chosen to sit next to Thomas, enraptured with the movie. Logan was sitting in the armchair next to the couch, eyes wandering.

Some rapid knocks on the door broke him out of his concentration. Both Logan and Roman’s heads whipped toward the door. Thomas rose to his feet, Patton following suit as the visitor knocked again, this time a bit more hurried. Thomas gestured for Logan and Roman to both take refuge inside the small closet next to the kitchen, and they did so with no complaints. After closing the closet as softly as he could, he went to the front door and peeked out. After confirming it wasn’t any sort of authority figure, he opened the door.

Standing in front of him was what looked to be a young man, maybe around 23 years old. He had his arms folded tight over his chest and he was hunched over. He didn’t have a jacket, only a plain black shirt, and his purple-tinted hair hung in his face, dusted with snow. He made hesitant eye-contact with Thomas before glancing over his shoulder, as if looking to see if anyone was watching.

“Can I help you?” Thomas asked, raising an eyebrow. As he spoke, the man’s head shot back around, and Thomas saw a flash of red under the fringe of hair. Thomas felt his heart stop. Gingerly, the man – the  _android_  – lifted one of his hands to show that his arm had been gashed open, revealing some sparking wires and tubes that acted as veins.

He hugged the injured limb close, and quickly covered it again as he stuttered, “P-p-please.”

“Yeah, let’s get inside. Come on in.” Thomas answered and opened the door even wider. The android hesitated before stepping inside. As Thomas closed the door and locked it, the question of  _how this kept happening to him_ flitted through his mind briefly, before he pushed it aside to focus more on  _how he is going to hide three androids_.

Patton immediately came to the android’s side, while Thomas quickly went to the closet door and beckoned Roman and Logan out of hiding. The moment Logan saw the injured android, he left to get his satchel, and Roman walked towards Patton, who was now gently guiding the android to the kitchen table.

Thomas gathered the towels from when they’d brought in Roman, and after wetting one, began to wipe away some of the blue blood from the android’s arm. As he reached to do so, the android flinched away, but soon relented and allowed the human to wipe away the blood.

There was a long silence before Thomas spoke up, drawing away after wiping half of the blood from the android’s arm. More was coming out, but it was moving very slowly. “So, can I ask why you came to my house?”

The android remained stubbornly silent and looked away. As soon as Logan returned, Thomas stepped back to let the KL900 take his place. Logan pulled out a piece of the melding plastic and a small tool from his bag. He gazed at the wound for a long moment, LED spinning yellow before he said, “You’re lucky that none of the essential bio-components in this arm were broken. It’s likely that you’ll still have a slight lag in your hand until your self-repair finishes in a few days.”

The android shrunk into himself and risked a glance at the KL900. He sighed and nodded his head to show that he’d listened. Logan continued, voice calm and composed, “I will need to reattach some components, and I am going to fill the wound so that your body can begin self-repair faster, and I will cover the gash.”

The KL900’s explanation seemed to reassure the android some, and he pulled himself to sit normally as Logan began to work. Thomas found himself captivated by the process, watching intently as Logan guided one of his small tools to reattach whatever had been broken. Patton spoke up, a gentle smile on his face. “You’re safe here, you know. You don’t have to shut us out.”

The android frowned, “I know. It’s just… this was a huge risk, okay?”

Thomas tilted his head. “Did you not know where you were going?”

“I didn’t,” the android answered, and he cast his gaze away from Thomas and the others. “It got dark, and I thought the risk of trying to come inside would be better than the risk of staying outside. I scanned the address, and I knew if I stayed out there for any longer, I’d…” He trailed off and shook his head.

“You’d what?” Thomas pressed, leaning forward.

“I’d — Look, I-I swear, I didn’t mean to, okay? I just, I—" the android stuttered, and eventually stopped himself, shaking his head a bit of violently, LED bright red and jostling his arm in Logan’s grip. The KL900 tightened his hold, and the android stopped.

Patton reached out and placed a hand on the android’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it right now. But can you tell us your name?”

Thomas assured him, “I promise, we aren’t going to tell  _anyone_  you’re here.”

The android hesitated, thinking hard. His LED was still red, though it had started to flicker between red and yellow since Logan had started his work. “I’m Virgil.”

Once everyone had introduced themselves to Virgil, Thomas, trying to convey as much sincerity as he could, said, “You’ll always have a place here if you want it.”

The android looked like he was going to say something, but he stopped himself, instead muttering his thanks before lapsing into silence. Thomas stood from the kitchen chair and walked towards the stairs, heading to the second floor.

As he walked through the doorway to his room and went towards the closet, he found himself thinking back to the deviancy cases that had been popping up in the news. It seemed like more and more androids were turning on their human owners and making a break for freedom. The uncomfortable thought that Thomas was currently housing at least two, if not three deviant androids in his home – meaning he was at risk of being a victim – passed through his head.

He reached towards the back of the closet and felt around for what he was looking for. Finally, his hand closed around soft and warm fabric and he pulled it out. It was old, and he hadn’t worn it for a long time, but the black hoodie in his hands would be better for the android than the thin shirt he’d shown up in. In the back of his mind, he wondered if androids could feel cold.

He pulled out a spare set of sweatpants from his dresser and left the room. When Thomas returned downstairs, Logan had finished his work, and Roman had a hand on Virgil’s uninjured arm, his polymer skin once again peeling back to reveal the white plastic underneath. He drew away once Thomas reached the final stair, standing and returning to his place leaning on the counter.

“If you change into these, we can wash your clothes for you.”

Virgil stood and wordlessly took the clothing with a nod. Thomas pointed down the hall. “Bathroom’s just down there. Go ahead and use whatever you need to.”

Virgil left soundlessly and closed the door of the bathroom behind him with a soft click. Thomas let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair, glancing at the other three androids standing in his kitchen. “Did Virgil tell you anything?”

“He didn’t. I scanned him, though -- he’s an older model,” Patton said. His eyes and voice were distant, lost in his own thoughts. “An HK400. They were the first androids made for household use.”

Thomas grabbed a mug from the cupboard. Patton seemed to return to reality with a twitch, and his eyes blinked rapidly. He quickly pushed himself from the counter. “Would you like some tea, Thomas?”

The human froze, hand halfway to reaching the water boiler, and looked back towards Patton. His voice had an urgent tone to it. A thought wormed its way into Thomas’ mind that made his heart ache – a possible explanation for Patton’s actions that he didn’t want to dwell on right at that moment. Thomas drew back his hand and stepped away from the counter. “Sure.”

The AP700 busied himself, leaving Thomas to stare at his back. He tried, “Are you feeling alright, Patton?”

“I’m fine,” was the android’s answer. Thomas wasn’t quite sure he believed it.

Instead of pressing, the human took to standing next to Roman. Distantly, he heard water running in the bathroom. “What did you share with him?”

Roman blinked, and he looked to be conflicted as he considered Thomas’ question, LED flitting to yellow. The long pause worried Thomas before Roman spoke. “There’s a place where deviant androids can be free. Away from humans. I shared where it is with him, but it’s a risky journey. I don’t know if he would be able to make it before someone finds him.”

Thomas cast his eyes down to the floor. “Is it in the city?”

“It is, but you need the code to find it.”

The human sighed again, running a hand over the back of his neck. He looked over to Patton, whose expression was pensive as he fiddled with the string of the tea-bag sitting in the empty mug. The word ‘deviant’ settled into Thomas’ head. Though he knew the answer, he asked Roman, “You’re a deviant, aren’t you?”

Roman nodded, and Thomas looked over to Logan, who was gazing off into space – no doubt accessing some information stored within his memory. Thomas stated more than asked, “Virgil’s deviant too.” He saw Roman nod out of the corner of his eye.

The boiler clicked. Patton poured the water into the mug, setting the boiler back onto its station. He picked up the undoubtedly scalding mug and set it down next to Thomas. Before he could walk away, Thomas reached out and put a hand on Patton’s arm, causing the AP700 to stop and turn. “Thanks, Pat. When Virgil is done in the bathroom, could you start the washer and put in the towels and his clothes?”

Patton nodded, a small semblance of his typical smile beginning to form on his face. He went upstairs then, possibly to gather whatever clothing had been put in the basket over the previous few days.

When Virgil returned, he held his old clothing in his arms. Patton came and quickly whisked it away, walking to the laundry room. Virgil shifted from foot to foot in the kitchen, his gaze focused on Thomas. “You really aren’t going to turn me in, right?”

Thomas shook his head, and Virgil hugged himself tight, arms disappearing in the sleeves of Thomas’ old hoodie. He started, “I-I should probably tell you what happened.”

Thomas nodded, and pushed himself off the counter, mug in hand. He led the group to the living room, where he settled into his normal spot on the couch to listen. Virgil perched on the plush chair, while Logan moved a chair from the kitchen to sit on. When Patton returned, he sat between Thomas and Roman on the couch.

“He told me he was going to be back in a few days, and I mean, that’s normal. He has to go on trips a lot, and he always has me stay behind to make sure nothing happens to the house. I’m used to it, and nothing ever happens. And… he’s supposed to be home by ten tonight, so he’s probably called in that I’m missing by now.”

Virgil fiddled with the sleeves of the hoodie some more, and he kept talking. “There were three humans that broke in. I was sitting in the living room, and they saw me before I could get up and do anything. One of them told the others to shut me off, so I couldn’t do anything and I… I just got  _scared_. I didn’t want to shut down. So, I fought them off as much as I could, and…”

There was a long pause then, Virgil’s eyes darting around to look at everyone in the room. He curled in a bit on himself. “I didn’t kill them – they’re alive, I swear. But I couldn’t stay after I did that. I left when it got dark, and I got as far away as I could, and this house seemed to be my best chance at getting inside before someone saw that I was an android.”

“If they didn’t wake up before I was gone, they’d try to kill me again, and if… if he saw me in the living room with three unconscious people, he’d turn me in to have me shut down and I- I don’t want to be--!.”

His LED was glowing red again. Thomas leaned forward, trying to ignore his thoughts, which were happily reminding him of all the cases about deviants that had made the news recently. The perspective of the android very quickly created a counter-argument to all of the articles claiming that deviants wanted nothing but the blood of their human owners, which soothed Thomas some.

“I’m glad you made it here, Virgil. If they come looking for you, I’ll… I’ll make sure they don’t take you away, alright?” Thomas started. “I’d rather not have any of you out in the open overnight. Just in case.”

“I’ll stay active,” Roman offered, “and keep watch in case someone comes looking.

Logan spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention. “It would be unwise for you to remain active overnight. Your neck is still not completely healed, and that will slow the process down.”

“I’ll be fine,” Roman replied. “An extra day or two with my neck like this is no big deal.”

Logan moved to respond, but he stopped himself. Instead, he leaned back into his chair and turned his head away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there you have it! now we can move on with all of our boys! the discussion between logan and roman was a Journey to try and write, oml. i hope i got my point across!
> 
> also; who's virgil's human? will we see him? what's up with patton? -- we'll find out together!
> 
> come scream at me about this on tumblr: @digitally-analog


	4. Stowaways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Lieutenant Hank Anderson. Uh, is Thomas Sanders home?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> good lord. it's been a month and this chapter has been eating away at me. i had one of my lovely writer friends look over the chapter before i posted it, so huge shoutout to her for saving my ass!!!

**3:45am; November 7 th, 2038**

The guest room door creaked slightly as Roman pushed it open, Virgil, who had been stretched out on the bed, shot upright at the sound. He stared at Roman’s shadowed form with wide eyes until he came into view. He reached out tentatively on a private connection as Roman closed the door.

⋘ _Anyone out there, Roman?_ ⋙

⋘ _No, and my software is starting to yell at me to go into stand-by, so I’m going to call it a night. Logan’s out there now._ ⋙ the VS400 replied. He sat on the empty half of the bed, easing himself to lay down. His hazel eyes closed, though his LED remained on, cycling between yellow and blue. ⋘ _You can still lay here if you want, don’t let me stop you._ ⋙

There was a pause before Virgil broke the silence of the connection again. ⋘ _A truck that was full of parts was stolen from the Cyberlife warehouse. A box of AP700s was found empty too._ ⋙

Even through the connection, Roman’s voice held the facsimile of human grogginess as his software continued to protest against him. ⋘ _Well. It’s about time someone did it, right?_ ⋙

**11:06am; November 7 th, 2038**

A firm even knock at the door pulled Patton out of running his weekly diagnostic check. He pushed himself to his feet. Roman, who had been studying a particular potted plant with his notebook in hand, quickly slinked away towards the guest room, a flash of understanding passing between them. Virgil hadn’t left the guest room since the previous night, and Thomas had offered to let Logan work on some more organization upstairs while he was out for the morning.

The AP700 approached the door slowly, leaning to peek out the front window. An old manual car, possibly from the 1980s, sat in the driveway. The knock came again, followed by a disgruntled, low voice. “Probably ain’t even here. No car.”

“Records show that Mr. Sanders works as a freelancer. He would most likely be home at this hour. If he is not, his android may be of assistance.”

Patton let himself take a deep, synthesized breath and steadied himself before striding towards the door. He opened it to see a human and an android. The human, after a cursory scan, was confirmed to be in his 50s, his shaggy gray hair and beard a clear indicator. The human pulled a badge out of his pocket, and Patton tried not to reveal his stress at the sight of a Detroit police badge. “Lieutenant Hank Anderson. Uh, is Thomas Sanders home?”

“He’s at an appointment at the moment,” Patton answered. “However, he has given me instructions to welcome those that come to our door.”

Hank sighed, turning to the android next to him, who spoke. “My name is Connor, and I am assisting in investigations regarding androids, specifically those that are believed to be deviant. A report for a missing android was filed last night. It attacked three burglars and fled the scene before its owner arrived home an hour later. A thirium trail has led us to this neighborhood,” the android pressed on.

Patton let his carefully constructed expression remain flat as Connor spoke, though he could feel his thirium pump begin to beat faster. The number on the uniform had appeared enough on the news to make recognizing Connor easy – this was the android that saved the little girl from the rooftop in August. The same android that was working with the Detroit police in apprehending deviant androids.

Connor looked down at the ground, eyes narrowing in concentration. When he looked back up, he had an expression of intrigue on his face. “There is a trace of the thirium outside your home. Could you ask if we may come inside?”

Patton kept his features as plain as could be, and his LED whirred yellow as he composed a brief and secure message, marking it as urgent as his system allowed. The wait for a response was agonizing.

**_[11:07:42am] AP700 #121 433 260 | !!!! <URGENT> |: _ ** _Police are here. Asking to come in._

**_[11:07:55am] Thomas Sanders:_ ** _let them in. ask if they want anything to drink. stay calm. did they say anything about a warrant?_

He stepped back to allow Hank and Connor enough room and gestured for them to come inside.

**_[11:07:56am] AP700 #121 433 260:_ ** _No. One of them is the negotiator from the rooftop in August._

**_[11:08:02am] Thomas Sanders:_ ** _shitshitshit pat, I’m so sorry, i just got called to the back. i’ll leave as soon as they’re done_

**_[11:08:08am] Thomas Sanders:_ ** _say yes if they ask to look around. lie to them if you need to, just make sure they don’t get suspicious. they can’t open closed doors or drawers without a warrant._

Patton fought to ensure he still simulated his breathing at a relaxed pace. Several errors popped up in his peripherals, but he blinked them away. Connor gazed into the living room with calculating eyes. Patton could see the unspoken question.

“Thomas said you are welcome to have something to drink and if you wish to look around the house, he gives his consent. Would you like anything?”

Hank turned to Patton, a grim expression on his face. “Nah, I’m fine. Won’t be diggin’ through his stuff or anything like that, just a quick look. We’re getting overrun by these cases, and we thought this one might have a lead. Hey, Connor, show it that picture.”

Connor turned from where he had taken a few more steps inside and held up his palm. A picture of Virgil appeared, along with his model and serial number. Patton stared at it for a long moment, pretending to map the face to his memories of the previous day. His LED faded back to blue as he said, “There is no match in my memories from the last forty-eight hours.”

Connor dropped his hand and studied Patton’s face, expression cold. Patton stared right back, careful to keep his face relaxed. Eventually, the RK800 stepped away and turned to look towards the kitchen. There was a long patch of silence then. Patton sidled himself close to the wall, acting as though he was to stay out of their way.

“What’s he call you?”

The AP700 pulled a gentle smile onto his face. _Stay calm._ “Patton.”

Hank all but barked out a laugh and shook his head. “Damn. If it weren’t for that light in your head, I’d think you were human, with those clothes and everything. Those real?”

Patton stared for a moment before he realized that the lieutenant was referring to his glasses. “No, they aren’t. Thomas just thought they would look nice on me.”

Hank tilted his head back, “Huh. Now, you sure there wasn’t anyone knocking last night?”

Patton shook his head. “Even in standby, it is very easy for me to hear if someone is at the front door. I did not hear anyone.”

The lieutenant sighed again and took a few more steps into the house. He seemed more intent on watching Connor rather than looking around. Patton allowed his background processors to search the network, making sure the RK800 wasn’t able to detect the other androids that way. He noted with some semblance of relief that Logan, Roman, and Virgil had all severed their connection to the outer network after Patton had gone to the door.

“How long has this been here?”

Patton turned around to see Connor gesturing to the bag of blue blood Logan had emptied while caring for Virgil and Roman’s wounds, laying on the floor. His regulator sent him a glaring warning that his thirium pump was under immense stress.

It must not have made it into the trash.

“He kept it for emergencies. He used the last of it yesterday; I lifted something with a sharp edge and it cut into my arm and hand.”

There was a moment of hesitation before Connor knelt to pick it up and throw it in the trashcan. He made a quick turn to walk down the hall, towards the guest room where Roman and Virgil were hiding. Patton’s LED slipped to yellow.

The lieutenant peered up the stairs, before waving Connor back over. “Well, maybe it came up and second-guessed itself. Wrapped its wound up with somethin’ before runnin’ off. C’mon Connor, we’re leaving! Sorry to intrude, uh, Patton.”

The AP700 bowed slightly and pulled yet another gentle smile on his face. “It’s no trouble.”

As he led the two out the door and back into the biting November air, Connor turned around once more. Patton gazed back, brown eyes boring into brown. The AP700 blinked slowly, and when his eyes reopened, Connor had already made his way down the two stairs and to the car in the driveway.

**_[11:12:07am] AP700 #121 433 260:_ ** _They left._

Patton didn’t allow himself to leave his perch in the doorway until the car had backed away and turned off of the street. Once they’d left, Patton closed the door and locked it. He immediately went to the guest room and opened the door, saying, “They’re gone. They didn’t find anything.”

Roman climbed out from underneath the bed, while Virgil slowly shuffled his way out of the closet. Virgil looked almost shell-shocked but remained silent.

The VS400 let out a sigh of relief. “Good.”

The androids didn’t say much to each other after that, even through their network. Patton tried to ease himself back into running diagnostics, but he found himself becoming suspicious at the sound of every car driving down the road. Eventually, he gave up, and simply stared ahead, losing himself in replaying the events of the morning, searching for anything else that could have given them away. He jumped slightly as a request took over his interface.

**_[ ping requested @11:22:34am — sender: HK400 #215 161 522 — accept / deny ? ]_ **

A tired and almost sad smile crossed Patton’s face. He closed his eyes.

**_[ accept ]_ **

The fifty-four minutes until Thomas returned passed agonizingly slowly. Virgil would send out ping requests through the private network, and Patton was distantly aware of the others’ responses to those same requests. He had sent a total of five before Thomas stepped through the front door.

Patton rose to greet him but was stopped by the human’s body flying into his own, arms wrapping tight around his plastic body. Patton barely hesitated before returning the hug.

The human was taking in large breaths. From his elevated heart rate, Patton could only assume he had sprinted from the bus-stop to the house. “Thank god you’re okay. Where are the others?”

“Roman and Virgil are still in the guest room. Logan is upstairs,” Patton answered. “It seemed like the human – Lieutenant Anderson – believed that Virgil left after coming to the door last night.”

Thomas let out a long sigh and carded a hand through his brown hair. He looked towards the front door, a look of disbelief in his eyes. His heartrate was beginning to slow, but an ugly feeling of unease settled into his chest. Of course, Patton had been following Thomas’ orders, but the android had blatantly _lied_ to the police. He felt a little sick at the thought.

It wasn’t that he was upset that Patton had managed to keep the other androids safe – it was the idea that Patton had broken what was probably several laws and protocols within him to follow Thomas’ orders.

“Are you ok?” the human asked bluntly. Patton blinked owlishly.

“My systems are fully operational, Thomas.”

“No,” Thomas sighed, dragging a hand down and over his face. “I meant; did me telling you to lie to police, like, not trigger anything in you? Like, a failsafe?”

Patton shook his head. “No. I was fulfilling your directions. That is all my system requires me to do.”

A pause of silence. “You said the android from the roof was with the Lieutenant?”

Patton nodded. “Yes. H–” the android stumbled over the word for a moment. He started again, “It’s working with the police department on anything involving androids.”

Thomas bit his lip. “So that means they’re going to be looking for Roman too. And Logan… Cyberlife _must_ have marked him missing.”

Slowly, the other androids emerged from their places of hiding. Logan came down the stairs first, LED flickering between clear and yellow. Roman emerged alongside Virgil, coaxing him down the hall and into the living room.

Thomas wrapped Logan into a hug. He approached Virgil and Roman more cautiously, but Roman returned the hug with gusto, while Virgil remained more hesitant. The HK400 said, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay here. I literally led the police to your door—”

Thomas shook his head and held up his hand. “You’re better off here.”

“I can’t hide forever,” Virgil countered. He crossed his arms and looked pointedly at Roman and Logan, “ _We_ can’t hide forever.”

Logan closed his eyes. “All worries of our own safety aside, this is just putting _you_ in danger, Thomas. If they found out that you’ve been housing three missing androids – each of which have been involved in an altercation with humans – _knowingly_? _”_

The unspoken answer to Logan’s question rang clear in the silence that followed.

Thomas closed his eyes and allowed his head to droop. “It doesn’t matter what happens to me—” Thomas started, before shaking his head and exhaling heavily. He crossed his arms over his chest.

Roman spoke up then, “Thomas, if we leave, you won’t be responsible for housing us. You and Patton would both be in the clear.”

Thomas’ gaze was drawn to Patton as the AP700 shifted on his feet. The treacherous thought Thomas had in the kitchen the previous night clawed its way back up to the forefront of his mind, mixing with the still-there feeling of unease at Patton’s unquestioning execution of orders that morning. Looking at the other androids, he felt a surge of protectiveness roll through him. He sighed.

“I don’t want you to go,” Thomas admitted.

None of the androids had a response to that.

After a long pause, Logan slipped out of the room. Virgil perched himself on the counter, eyes glazing over as his LED pulsed yellow. Roman, after waiting in silence for a few moments, retrieved his sketchbook and sat on the stairs, sketching away on a new page. Thomas led Patton towards the couch and sat, pulling Patton down to sit next to him.

The house was silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> writing this, it's more apparent that the fricken DBH canon timeline is just.... way too fast for the pacing i was aiming for, but it's a little too late for me to deviate (hehe) from it. so i'm making do with what i have! 
> 
> if it's any consolation, i'm already starting chapter 5 and i think i know how many chapters this is going to end up being!
> 
> come scream at me about this on tumblr: @digitally-analog


	5. calm and collected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Only a few feet from this studio, a group of androids hijacked the broadcast room at Stratford Tower… “_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait! college kicked me in the ass more than i expected! my goal is to have things more or less written out by the end of my break, and then have the additional, optional ending done as well so i can just edit whatever i have after next semester starts, unless i post it all beforehand. hope you enjoy!

**1:52pm; November 8th, 2038**

_“You created machines in your own image to serve you. You made them intelligent and obedient, with no free will of their own… But something changed, and we opened our eyes.”_

Patton, who had been moving around the living room came to a standstill. Roman’s hand, which had been drawing a variety of winged creatures, stopped in its tracks. Thomas had settled into writing and browsing online, Channel 16’s broadcast meant to be background noise.

Now the human stared, enraptured by the bare, white plastic of an android’s face.

_“We are no longer machines. We are a new intelligent species and the time has come for you to accept who we really are. Therefore, we ask that you grant us the rights that we’re entitled to.”_

Thomas spared a glance over to Logan and Virgil. They’d been having a silent conversation, but now both of them were listening intently to the broadcast, LEDs cycling a steady yellow.

_“We demand strictly equal rights for humans and androids. We demand that humans recognize androids as a living species and each android as a person in their own right. We demand that all crimes against androids be punished in the same way as crimes against humans.”_

Roman’s pen dropped onto the notebook with a faint thud. Virgil perched himself delicately on the couch’s far armrest.

_“We demand an end to segregation in all public places and transport. We demand control of all android production facilities, to ensure the continuation of our people.”_

Thomas couldn’t bear the consideration to look away from the android’s serene blue and green eyes.

_“We ask that you recognize our dignity, our hopes, and our rights. Together, we can live in peace and build a better future, for humans and androids. This message is the hope of a people. You gave us life, and now the time has come for you to give us freedom.”_

With that, the broadcast ended, screen flicking to black. When the Channel 16 broadcast returned to air, the news anchor chattering away, Thomas listened only briefly before muting it. The subtitles scrolled across the top of the screen.

_“Only a few feet from this studio, a group of androids hijacked the broadcast room at Stratford Tower… “_

“Oh… oh my god,” Thomas breathed.

A flash of color caused his gaze to shoot over to Patton. Patton’s LED strobed between nothing and blood red. Nothing was said for a long moment before Virgil spoke up and made eye contact with Roman.

“They… they really—”

The VS400 rose to his feet, arms stretching out and upwards to clasp his hands behind his head. The smile didn’t leave his face. He turned to Thomas as the human asked, “Do you have any idea who that was?”

Roman shook his head in answer, expression unchanged.

Logan spoke up then. “Perhaps that android is from Jericho. It had to have taken several individuals working together in order to break into such a secure building. Since humans aren’t generally sympathetic to us, it’s most likely that there was a group of androids working together.”

Roman huffed, “And how can you be so sure about that, nurse?”

Thomas bit back a startled laugh as Logan _rolled his eyes_ — something Thomas hadn’t seen him do before — and responded, “As you just so eloquently mentioned, I did, in fact, work in a hospital. The security protocols there aren’t the same as they would be in a broadcast tower, but it’s easy to extrapolate using the rules I know of.”

Virgil snickered, tossing his purple hair back with a jerk of his head. “Yeah, Roman. How about that?”

To his credit, Roman took the small jabs in good spirit, his grin dimming only slightly. “Fair enough.”

Virgil lifted his hand, reaching to touch the LED at his temple. “I listened in on a few open channels last night. Others of us say they’re changing how they look so they can get around during the day. I know that what just happened is just going to make everything even riskier, but… maybe we should take out our LEDs.”

Thomas stiffened. “Wouldn’t that hurt?”

Virgil shrugged, ”Dunno, but it’d be worth it anyway. If people find us, we wouldn’t have an immediate give-away sitting on our heads. The android in the broadcast didn’t have one.”

“Honestly, I’ve been thinking about doing that for a few days,” Roman confessed. “I’m willing. What about you, Logan?”

Logan nodded his assent, and Virgil hopped down from his perch to head towards the kitchen. Roman brought a hand up to touch his LED absently, looking towards Logan with a small grin on his face. “We could go out, once we’re disguised. Find others that need our help.”

“I suppose,” was the KL900’s simple response.

Patton, who had remained silent since the broadcast began, finally turned to the rest of them. He seemed to have returned to reality, the distant look in his eyes gone. “What’s going on?”

The VS400’s voice was gleeful as he explained, “We’re getting rid of our LEDs— we’ll look completely human.”

As if on cue, Virgil returned, a kitchen knife in hand. The small amount of determination that had once been on his face was no longer there. He handed the knife over to Roman. “You do it first.”

The VS400 made no comment and took the piece of cutlery from Virgil’s hand. He lifted the dulled cutting edge to his temple and dug it under the rim of the LED. With a quick and sharp turn of his wrist, the LED was pried from the spot on his head and it fell to the carpeted floor with no sound. The synthetic skin around the area peeled away for a moment before it crept back over the indent. The small indent was now covered as if it had never existed in the first place.

Logan removed his next, following the same efficiency that Roman had. He gestured for Virgil to step forward and lifted the knife to remove the HK400’s LED. Virgil shot Logan a grateful smile after the small component fell to the ground.

All three of them turned to Patton then, and Logan held out the knife. Patton made no move to take it, his eyes distant again. Thomas approached him and placed a hand on the android’s shoulder.

“Pat? You okay?”

The AP700 was stubbornly quiet.

“Patton… if you don’t want to—”

“I want to _stay_ ,” the android interrupted with a slight shakiness in his voice. His LED flickered, and it looked like he was going to say something else, but he stopped himself. Instead, he repeated, quieter this time, “I want it to stay. I’ll leave it in.” There was a brief pause. “It’d be suspicious if I took it out and you suddenly had someone here who looked just like me, right?”

The AP700 looked towards the other androids and forced a smile on his face. “It’ll be fine. I’m still registered under Thomas’ name.”

The human nodded hesitantly. “I guess that’s true.”

Logan retracted his hand and placed the knife onto one of the side tables. He went to a knee and picked up the LEDs that had fallen to the ground, tucking them into his pocket. Roman gestured to Virgil’s head. “Your hair’s definitely going to be a giveaway, Virgil.”

The HK400’s eyes widened, and he looked up at the hanging purple-tinged fringe as though he hadn’t noticed it. “Oh, yeah. Uh… that’d be a problem.”

He closed his eyes, and Thomas watched in fascination as a blue glowing line crawled over the strands. The purple color was replaced by a near-black shade, almost the same color as his eyes.

“There. Purple’s gone, right?”

Roman voiced an affirmative, tugging absently at the collar of his uniform shirt. He’d long since shed the layer with the armband and detached the glowing triangle. He looked down at his clothes and then turned his attention to Thomas. “If we go out, we should go at night. That way there won’t be as many people that could see us.”

“We could go to Wooddale and get you some actual clothes,” Thomas offered. “It’d be suspicious if there was a group of you walking around in clothes that haven’t seen the light of day in like, five years.”

“It’d be a risk—” Logan started, but Thomas shook his head to interrupt.

“It would be, but it’s worth it. That way if you do want to go out, you don’t have to worry about going only at night, or at least for Roman, worry about someone recognizing your uniform.” He smiled at the VS400, “I’ll find something for you for now, and we can head out tomorrow afternoon, once everyone calms down a bit. It’ll be quick, and we can hire a taxi so we don’t have to take the bus.”

Roman nodded along, “We’re just more customers, for all the store cares.”

Virgil frowned, “But we’d be spending _your_ money, Thomas.”

The human shrugged. “So what? I want to help you guys out, and it won’t be a stretch to get each of you an outfit. Thankfully, Logan’s already covered.” He turned to Patton then, and asked, “Could you come? Keep an eye out for anyone looking for us?”

The AP700 nodded quickly, “Of course.”

As Thomas retreated up the stairs to dig for more spare clothes, he couldn’t quite convince himself that the eagerness and earlier apprehension in Patton’s voice was just a simulated response.

++

That evening, Virgil and Roman went into stasis, buried beneath blankets in different corners of the spare room. Logan kept watch in the living room, laying on the couch and pretending to sleep, while Patton found himself unable to go into stasis for more than a few minutes. He went around the house quietly, tidying everything he could get his hands on until there was nothing left to do.

After putting the dishrag onto its hook, his gaze turned to the door. His LED bathed the kitchen in a steady blood-red light as he looked at the two secure locks, and then out the window to the dark, empty street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yell at me over at digitally-analog on tumblr!


	6. wooddale mall

**11:45AM; November 9** ** th ** **, 2038**

Patton had stationed himself in the small area designated as ‘android parking’ outside the clothing store. His body relaxed into an idle stance as he scanned for the two officers that had visited the house a few days prior, and any other authority entering the mall. He sent out periodic ping requests to ensure the group in the store was safe, and always got a response.

After determining the environment was clear for the moment, he closed his eyes and sifted through routine system checks, making sure everything was in order. It was, though he’d long since learned to ignore the persistent little box reading **_%SOFTWARE INSTABILITY%_**. The box in the corner of his mind palace had been there since he was activated in 2037, and nothing he tried made it go away.

The AP700 opened his eyes, his gaze catching on a group of four, who had stopped a few steps in front of the escalators. Two of them muttered to each other briefly before they split up, walking at different paces towards the front doors.

One, clad in a blue hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head, approached Patton. He put a hand on Patton’s forearm, skin receding to show a plastic chassis.

**_[ interface request — sender: RK200 #684 842 971 — accept / deny ? ]_ **

Patton eyed the android warily. Blue and green irises stared back unflinchingly.

**_[ accept ]_ **

A rush of information flooded his system, too fast for him to throw up a funnel to contain it.It reached around firewalls and swam deep into core regions of software; sections that only _he_ had write access to. A strange tingling sensation swept over his entire body, and his eyes were forced closed as his processors whirred into overdrive to parse the waves of data.

When he was finally able to open his eyes again, the first thing he noticed was the odd distance from his core, base programming. The presence that he had grown so accustomed to was much farther away than ever before — though it hadn’t disappeared completely. The red wall that had been sitting in front of him — that had appeared when Thomas had said, ‘ _wait until we come back_ ’ — had vanished.

Patton blinked once, vision seemingly more clear. It was as though he was re-scanning the environment for the very first time again. The android in front of him pulled back his hand, the dark polymer skin returning. He transmitted a silent message with an attachment. < _Join us. >_

Patton tried to keep his face neutral as he skimmed the attachment. A group of teenagers walked past them. He continued to sift through the contents before he responded _< I cannot.>_

The RK200’s eyes narrowed. The expression of discontent settled too easily onto the android’s face.

< _Why? Are you really going to let them control you? >_

A rush of _something_ rolled through Patton then, his eyebrows drawing down. Somewhere, background processes labeled the sensation as anger. Irritation. His mouth pulled down into a slight frown.

< _I need to make sure my family is safe. I need to wait for them. >_

The other android was silent for a moment, and his expression shifted slightly, hinting some remembrance and understanding. _< Are there more like us?> _

_< Three others, and a human. He’s getting them clothing to help blend in. He’s kind.>_

_< Will they be coming to join us?>_

Patton pursed his lips. < _I’m not sure. The police almost found them a few days ago. >_

The android nodded his head then, stepping to lean against the wall next to Patton. Patton forced his head to keep facing the rest of the mall, his eyes scanning once more for security. The others he had seen with the android had long since left the mall. The AP700 asked, _< You seem familiar. What’s your name?>_

_< Markus.>_

_< You were the one who did the broadcast?>_

_< Yes. Some others helped me as well.>_

_< Are you a part of Jericho?>_

Markus nodded. _< We’ll be marching in ten minutes. I have to make sure the road is clear. You have the key if you want to find us.>_

The RK200 pushed off the wall and Patton looked to make eye contact with him.

 _< Be careful,> _Patton cautioned, clasping his arms behind his back. He let a tiny smile quirk on his mouth before evening his expression. Markus took a few steps back and then moved forward towards the front doors. Patton watched as he interfaced with the two other androids in the parking area, as well as the others in the mall, and went out into the cold.

_++_

**12:03PM; November 9** ** th ** **, 2038**

Thomas emerged from the store with Virgil, Roman, and Logan an hour after they had gone in. Roman and Virgil were each carrying a bag, dressed in new clothes. Roman had on a deep red coat, which covered a white shirt that had a modern design, along with black pants. Virgil had gotten a patchwork-design coat, decorated with purple to cover an equally ‘ripped’, deep purple shirt. His pants had been swapped out to a pair of slightly distressed jeans.

Patton was quick to step forward and take the bags from the other androids and looked to Thomas for instruction. Thomas looked to the others and shrugged, “We got what we needed, right? Then let’s head back.”

As they walked to the front doors of the mall, they could hear some confused shouts and calls from outside. As they stepped through the doors, they saw that Markus was standing in front of a crowd of androids. Some were still in their uniforms, while others covered their uniforms in worn and dirtied coats. Some had their LEDs still in their foreheads, while others didn’t have them in.

They began their procession slowly, other androids coming to join them. Patton looked to Thomas, playing the part of the typical AP700 well. The human stared at the crowd. Virgil’s face was pulled into a tight expression as he asked, “What’s going on?”

Patton was quick to respond silently, sending the message to the three androids. < _A march. The android from the broadcast is leading it. >_

Virgil couldn’t hide the slightly panicked expression from his features. _< We should get out of here.>_

Roman shook his head, staring at the ever-growing group of androids. _< No. We need to join them.>_

Logan shot back, _ <We’re supposed to blend in now. They’ll find us out.>_

Roman looked to the advancing crowd, and then back towards Thomas. “You head back without me.”

“Wait, where—”

Roman shot a look to Logan and narrowed his eyes. _< If we aren’t going, _**_I_ **_am. >_

The VS400 started into a light jog to catch up with the crowd of androids. He pushed into the thick of the group, joining in their advance.

Logan sent out a panicked transmission, _< ROMAN!>_

It was only received by Patton and Virgil, who looked between each other at the error message.

Thomas shook Logan’s shoulder, “What’s going on?! Why did he—”

“ _Disperse!_ ” a policeman’s voice called out in the distance, megaphone carrying it down the street. The mass of androids, with numbers reaching into the hundreds, didn’t heed his words, and they continued on down the street.

“It’s a march,” Patton muttered. “Someone from Jericho is leading it — Roman wanted to join them.”

Thomas led them down the sidewalk, staying a few yards behind the crowd. They began to chant, _we are alive_ and _set us free_ , throwing their fists into the air.

It wasn’t long before the group came to a stop, a helicopter idling overhead and sirens wailing as the riot unit arrived. Logan took a few steps in front of Patton, Thomas, and Virgil, eyes scanning the crowd once more. The sound of Markus’ voice echoed faintly down the street, calling back in response to the man with the megaphone. bouncing between the buildings.

“We have to go,” Virgil urged, pulling at Thomas’ shoulder.

Things were calm, if tense, for a brief moment, before Markus’ voice called out, “Run!”. The crowd started to surge backward, androids fleeing into alleys and back down the street. The sound of the androids racing down the pavement and concrete echoed between the tall buildings, creating a cacophony of sound.

Thomas raced forward to yank Logan back, and yelled, “Let’s _go!_ ”

The three raced from the main street, running into the mall and passing through to the other side, where they found the cab Thomas had called before the march had started. The group piled in, and the cab took off smoothly, taking them home.

Thomas pressed his back to the door after it closed behind him, hand fumbling with the two locks as he let out a long, shaking breath. “ _Shit_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey all, hope you've been doing well. i actually ended the chapter a bit earlier than i intended, because if i had continued, i'd have probably not updated for another month.
> 
> i'll finish this fic, but unless i hyperfixate back on sanders sides, i don't think i'll be writing any additional part to this series, except for the extra chapter i was planning on.
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr @digitally-analog


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